Cult defenders will try to convince you that forgiveness is a simple concept, and they will probably try to couch their definition of forgiveness in Christianese. Their motives for pushing a naive, simplistic view of forgiveness are any of the following: excuse abusive behavior, erase history, do damage control, exert more control.

In reality, human forgiveness is a very complex concept. Here is a video that expresses the complexity of forgiveness.

In our case of cult survivors, it's even more difficult, because the abuse and hurt is not restricted to two persons, but systematic and affecting all members of the cult and their families and friends. Cult survivors know that when they leave, the cult will try to find new followers who will replace them and who will be abused in similar ways. So to "release" the cult leaders may solve the personal problem of the victim, but will not solve the problem of abused people who are still in the cult or will be lured into the cult in the future. If they are quiet, it can make things even worse. So while everything Mr. Marmer says about the necessity of "release" is true, "moving past" should no mean that you stop talking about what happened and reflecting about why it happened. Also, it may take a long time. Some cult experts say it takes about the same time to leave a cult as the time you spent in a cult.